Borderline crisis: what can I do to help myself?

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Living with borderline personality disorder is a roller coaster ride . I remember exploding in anger, falling into deep holes, devaluing myself so much - feeling like I had no control at all. I broke off relationships, isolated myself in the room, and felt wrong .

I started with talk therapy, which at least helped me to have someone to talk to in the beginning. The sticking point of slowly finding a footing, however, was sometimes in these steps:

• Introspection

• Detect triggers

• Learn and apply skills

• Taking responsibility through self-help

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I noticed more and more: I can take countermeasures in advance against internal tension and discomfort in any form. This takes a lot of practice and starts with introspection. Instead of devaluing myself, I tried to "explore" what happened when and how:

• What feeling do I feel and do I feel it? This enabled me to see earlier what was going on in me later.

• What was the trigger ? What moment or chain of events triggered this feeling?

• How tense am I already? So I was able to choose the respective self-help measures.

• What do I need now to stay with me and take good care of myself?

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This observation takes a lot of time and patience . However, I benefited greatly from it: In small steps I learned to deal with difficult situations increasingly. I learned not to explode or injure myself. I slowly learned to be able to change destructive mechanisms and to transform old behavior into a more constructive one.